Police in Montreal are on the look-out for an Inuk woman who has been missing for nearly four months.
Donna Paré, 32, hasn’t been seen since December.
Her disappearance was only reported to police last week.
(Donna Paré, 32, has been missing since December. Her disappearance was reported last week.)
Intervention worker Jessica Quijano says that it’s likely the people who know her were hesitant to go to police.
“Donna, well she’s been living on the street for quite a number of years and often people who live on the street have a lot of issues with police, so it’s not encouraging for a lot of people to go to police,” said Quijano.
Quijano works for the Iskweu Project, a division of the Montreal Native Women’s Shelter that aims to reduce the number of missing Indigenous women in Quebec.
She wants to emphasize that anybody who is hesitant to go to police with information can reach the Iskweu project by phone, email or social media.
“We created this project to encourage loved ones and family when someone goes missing to be accompanied to make a police report and then follow up with the police,” explained Quijano.
(Intervention worker Jessica Quijano says that it’s likely the people who know her were hesitant to go to police. Photo: Tom Fennario/APTN)
In Paré’s case, Quijano was allowed to file the report to police, whereas usually the procedure is that the last person who saw the missing individual needs to make the report
“I’m happy that the police took the report and that they’ve been following through, I’ve been in constant communication with the detective,” said Quijano.
However Quijano says this is all the slimmest of silver linings if Paré is not found safe.
Paré has brown eyes, black hair, weighs 47 kilograms (103 pounds) and stands 155 centimetres (five foot one).
She has been known to frequent the Berri-UQAM area on the eastern edges of Montreal’s downtown.
Anyone with information on Paré can reach Quijano confidentially at 438-868-2448 or can anonymously contact Montreal police directly at 514-393-1133.
